


Loss

by PhantomPhan16, VicenteValtieri



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Bittersweet Ending, Character Death, Grief/Mourning, Holocaust, M/M, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:13:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24961369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhantomPhan16/pseuds/PhantomPhan16, https://archiveofourown.org/users/VicenteValtieri/pseuds/VicenteValtieri
Summary: An accident robs the RED Team of one of their members, and in the wake of his death his past is revealed.
Relationships: Heavy/Medic (Team Fortress 2)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 77





	Loss

Johann Ludwig, RED Medic, muttered to himself in German as he drove back from town. He had gone to meet Miss Pauling to help her with something in town, and now it was storming viciously as he drove back. Rain beat his windshield, and his headlights did little to pierce the darkness ahead of him. Lightning split the sky, a semi-truck swerved into his lane, and Medic yanked the wheel to avoid the truck. His little car lost control on the slick ground, and he spun out of control. The ditch swallowed the car and man desperately trying to wrestle back control.

"Man, Doc still ain't back," Scout grumbled.

"Perhaps he has decided to stay in town for zhe night. It is raining rather hard." Spy suggested.

"Yeah maybe. Sure comin' down somethin' awful."

The door opened, and Pyro jumped up with a muffled cry the team knew to be 'Medic!', but no German voice answered him back.

"It's me, guys."

"Miss Pauling!" Scout exclaimed happily.

She walked into the sitting room where they all were.

"Wait a sec, wasn't Doc with you?"

She nodded and didn't even look in Heavy's direction. "... Medic... Medic was in an accident."

"An accident? Well, bring him back here so we can hit him with the medigun then!" Scout demanded.

"Scout,... he... he's dead."

Scout looked thunderstruck and Heavy buried his face in his hands. Spy dropped his cigarette, Demo dropped his beer, and Engie froze before shakily putting a hand on Heavy's shoulder.

"Doc's... dead? No. No way! Miss Pauling, that ain't funny!"

"It's not a joke, Scout. He was driving back and lost control. His car rolled in the ditch, and... the paramedics think he was knocked unconscious in the crash and as the water rose in the ditch... I'm sorry."

"But... but the RESPAWN-"

"He was out of range, son," Engie rasped.

"So can't we extend the range?!"

"Not in time to get him back."

"That ain't fair, hardhat!"

Engie threw down his helmet, "Dammit I know it ain't!"

His goggles were next, tears in his blue eyes. Scout was valiantly fighting his own. Sniper was consoling a sobbing Pyro. Soldier was silent, for once, and Demo was staring blankly, like his mind couldn't fully process the news. Spy came forward to put a hand on Scout's shoulder.

"Did he have-"

"There's no next of kin. All he had... was you guys."

Soldier made a noise they didn't recognize and stomped out into the rain. Demo finally lurched to his feet and followed him.

"Sol?"

Solly wasn't in the yard, or by his heads. Demo vaguely spotted a lamp headed towards the road. He thought about calling for the others then decided against it and ran after the light. Solly - shovel over his shoulder - was marching through the rain down the side of the road.

"Sol! Hey, wot are ye doin'?!"

"Going to get Medic," Solly grunted.

"Wot?" He sighed, "Sol, we don't even know what hospital his... he's at."

"Gonna find him," Solly continued.

Demo spun the shorter man around to face.

"Solly! Listen tae me. Ye don't even know the way to town. Doc... he'll be fine until Miss Pauling tells us where he is, aye? He's... he's a tough lad," Demo said, choking a bit.

Solly's helmet fell off, revealing his blue eyes. Demo knew the wetness wasn't rain.

"Oh, Sol..." his own voice cracked, and he felt tears slide down his cheek as well.

He pulled the other man close.

"Come on. We have to man our posts."

The funeral made it all final, but the REDs seemed to exist rather than live. Heavy couldn't process that Johann was gone. Never again would his lover greet him in the morning and snuggle into him at night.

Engie came looking for him the morning after, "Heavy?"

He was still dressed, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Aw, Heavy... I... Miss Pauling's here with Doc's... Doc's will."

Mikahil shakily got to his feet and followed the Texan out to the living room where the others waited. Scout was petting Archimedes, sniffling occasionally. Miss Pauling looked like she wanted to be anywhere else and doing anything else. In her hand were papers. Heavy assumed it was Johann's will.

"Now that we're all here..." Pauling began to read.

Heavy got almost everything Medic owned - house and money and the birds. No one was surprised that Heavy got it all.

"To Scout-" "Wait what? Thought he left Heavy everything," said Scout. Pauling shook her head. "Not quite. He left some stuff for each of you, too."

Each teammate had a box of something. Scout got some of Medic's hats. Spy, Engie, and Sniper received a few of his books, with Heavy getting the rest. The exception was a Sherlock Holmes collection, which Scout received. He had admitted to Medic that, despite his brother's teasing, he actually liked to read, especially mysteries.

Pyro got a patch kit for his balloonicorns. Demo received some of Medic's personal alcohol and a recipe, and Soldier received his weapon care kit and a thick envelope. That surprised everyone.

Solly took the envelope off to open it in peace.

Scout swapped his hat out for Medic's gatsby and clutched the rest of his new things close, fresh pain gripping him. He could see the others weren't in any better state.

Soldier sat down on his bed and opened the envelope with shaking fingers. Letters spilled from it and a few old photographs. Why would Medic leave him this? He picked up the top picture and looked at it. He nearly dropped it. Johann wasn't looking at the camera, his focus was entirely on the bowl in his hands. He was rail thin, Solly easily counting his ribs, the pants he wore hanging loose, and other people in the same horrific state were gathered around, also with bowls. Red Cross workers were also in the picture, handing out bowls to more people. As much as he had come to care for Medic, Soldier had still believed the man to have been on the 'wrong' side of the war. Now he held proof in his hands that Johann had been a victim. ...Yet Medic had never corrected him while he was alive. He just... let Soldier believe he had been one of his tormentors.

Solly gathered up the pictures and watched as Johann slowly filled out under their care. His eyes became less wide and wild. He was more himself.

When the pictures ended, he grabbed the letters. Only they weren't letters, they were torn out journal pages. In them he read a tale of compassion, courage, and sacrifice. Johann was not a Jewish man as he had started to think, but the 'crime' that had gotten him sent to hell on earth was his efforts to smuggle Jewish people out of Germany.

He was a guardian angel for the men and women in danger. And he'd been caught. A traitor he had been sent to the worst camp, Auschwitz, where he had been worked nearly to death all for the crime of compassion. The final page was a letter,... a letter to him.

Solly read it and it brought tears to his eyes again. He folded it into his pocket and walked out of the Base.

Spy sat in his smoking room, the box of books from Medic sitting on the bed beside him. It still didn't feel real. He still half-expected the German to appear at any moments and try, for who knew what number time it was, to get him to stop smoking. He threw the cigarette into an ash tray. He pulled off his mask and buried his face in his hands.

Engie whacked at the scrap of metal in front of him, not really paying attention. The motion, the sound, it was comforting in a way, but now... no excited German would come running to tell him about some breakthrough he'd made or ask him for help with something.

And Heavy... God, poor Heavy.

The Russian hadn't said a single word since Miss Pauling told them what happened. He kept to himself, and Engie had taken to bringing him food since he didn't come out to eat. He angrily hit the scrap pile. Of all the things they went through almost daily it was a damn car crash that took out Johann, arguably one of the toughest of them. A car crash and a flooding ditch.

"F***," Engie growled, banging again and again, "Hell. Dammit! F***!"

"Hudda?"

He paused in his beating of the metal and turned to see Pyro standing nearby. The firebug was holding two envelopes marked with their names in Johann's handwriting.

"What's that, Pyro?"

Pyro told him, in his muffled speech, it was letters from Medic to them. Heavy found some for everyone among his own letters.

Engie took the letter from Medic and began to read it.

The heartfelt thanks for being a good friend, for not judging him for his nationality like many others had, and Dell had to compose himself before he could red Pyro's to him.

Johann's words to the firebug were warm and fatherly, encouraging him to continue the treatment they had started and to open up to the others now that he was gone.

Pyro hugged Engie when it was over. He hugged the younger man back.

"Oh, Pyro..."

The firebug was sobbing.

"It's going to get better, Pyro..."

He hoped so anyway. Scout was silent as he looked for his mug in the kitchen. He had the recipe for the hot chocolate Medic always made and found himself desperately wanting some, anything to soothe the cold he felt inside... anything to feel closer Johann. The German had scared him at first, but over time the doctor had become a father figure to him, despite all joke about him being 'Team Mom'.

"C'mon, where-"

His hand knocked Medic's mug over the edge.

"No no no!" he yelped, trying to catch it.

The ceramic shattering seemed to shatter the dam Scout had built on his own grief. He fumbled for the pieces, collecting them and examining them like a puzzle, cutting his fingers. Tears streamed down his face, and he began to sob.

"Vhat 'appen- Scout, stop zhat!"

Spy dropped beside him and gently brushed the pieces away and pressed a handkerchief to his son's bloodied hands.

"No, I gotta fix it," he sobbed.

"It vas an accident, Scout. It vas... Just a mug."

"It was Doc's mug, Spy!"

"Scout - Jeremy - it vas an accident."

He collapsed against the Frenchman and sobbed harder. Spy was startled then hugged him tightly. Why? Why did this have to happen? He calmed Scout down and made the hot chocolate.

The familiar, rich scent wafted through the base and brought the others in. Spy, knowing it would, made enough for everyone and filled their mugs. Heavy had one last letter, one addressed to them all. Spy opened as they sat around the table with their mugs.

"My dear friends, when I first met you all I had no idea how much each of you would come to mean to me. How each of you would have something to teach me. I still can't believe it at times. If you are reading this letter too soon all I can do is apologize for..." Spy had to pause and contain himself, "For leaving you all too soon. Life has not been easy for me since the end of the war, and you all have made it easier, despite how much I may complain."

Scout sniffled and Pyro curled into Engie's side.

"You are my family, each and every one of you. Never forget that. Without you I am a man forgotten by the world that punished him for doing the right thing. I could never tell you in life, so I must tell you in death. Soldier's claims that I was a Nazi are the furthest from the truth. My only crime in the war... was my compassion. I was a smuggler, but not for drugs, weapons, or anything like that. I..." Spy's eyes widened, "I smuggled Jewish people out of Germany."

"Good Lord..." Engie sighed, bowing his head.

"Holy dooly."

"That's aboot... tha most dangerous thing he coulda done," Demo breathed.

Spy nodded and continued; his voice thick, "I was caught eventually, branded a traitor, and shipped to... oh merde..."

The others exchanged looks.

"Spy?" Engie prompted.

"Shipped to Auschwitz. Do not feel sorry for me, mein freunds. I would have made the same choice knowing what I do now. I did what was right, not what was easy or safe, and I survived. Hellish as my time there was, it led to what many would call my downfall, losing my license, but I think otherwise. The man whose skeleton I stole was a Nazi on the run, a schwinehund I found trying to rape a Jewish girl just trying to put her life back together. Most importantly, it led me here, to all of you. A chance to love."

Heavy gave a main, tearful smile.

"A friend, a brother, to experiment with and build new and wonderful inventions."

Engie rubbed his eyes, smiling through his tears.

"A brother to pit German beer against Scottish whiskey with."

Demo gave a choked laugh.

"Two brothers to challenge my aim with."

Spy and Sniper both smiled sadly. They had been Johann's most often shooting competition.

"An annoying brother to debate politics with, if you can call our shouting matches debates, Jane."

Soldier sniffled loudly.

"And two sons to mind, clean up after, and tend to when they've gotten too reckless and hurt themselves like the kinder they are. Scout, Pyro, try not to do something so reckless I have to come back just to scold you properly."

Scout let out a half-sob, half-chuckle, "Don't give me ideas, doc."

"Someday we will meet again, my friends, my family, just do me a favor and try to make it later rather than sooner."

The letter was folded up and Spy gave it back to Heavy.

Scout sniffled, "It's like he knew..."

"He didn't, Scout, he just knew the RESPAWN ain't perfect and that... well anythin' could happen to him... at any time. Guess he just... wanted to be prepared."

"Let's go back to our activities, my friends. I think we all need a moment."

They all nodded, but no one moved. It was easier... sitting all together, sharing their grief. Pyro went to Heavy and curled up into his side. Spy hugged Jeremy. Engie and Demo patted Solly's shoulders. They were silent for the rest of the afternoon. It almost felt like Medic was there in the room with them.


End file.
